Facebook is turning itself into a real-time news hub whether you like it or not.

On Thursday, the world’s large social network said it will begin broader use of a feature to highlight trending topics on its site, after months of limited tests.

The feature, called “Trending,” will appear in the upper-right-hand corner of a user’s main Facebook page and show what topics are currently popular on Facebook. The results will reflect both topics that are popular across the site and those that are popular based on users’ interests.

When users click on a topic, they will be shown related posts, especially from friends. According to a Facebook spokeswoman, in the coming weeks every desktop user in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India and Australia will have the feature.

The feature, which Facebook has been testing since the summer, mirrors a similar feature on rival Twitter, as the companies vie to be the primary hub for the Web’s real-time conversations. Last year, Facebook incorporated hashtags into its service, a feature long associated with Twitter.